Fantastic Mr. Fox

Written
by Roald Dahl

Reviewed by Jenna W. (age 8) and Daniel K. (age 9)

Bang! Bang! Bang! Went the guns of Farmer Boggis, Bunce, and Bean searching for Mr. Fox who has been stealing from their farms. There lies Mr. Fox's tail - but not Mr. Fox. "We got the tail but we missed the fox," said Farmer Bean. Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Go the shovels. Suddenly something shot out of the ceiling. "They're digging us out!" yelled Mr. Fox. "Start digging!" Suddenly the ground starts to shake, soil starts to fly, while the farmers try to dig out the foxes.

After three days the foxes began to starve. "I have a plan, but I don't think we could do it." So they started digging anyway. Just then Mr. Fox stopped and put his hand to the ceiling. "We made it," he said wildly jumping for joy. The foxes were now at Boggis' chicken house number one. Just then the children started running around. But Mr. Fox chose one chicken and sent one of the little foxes back to home base so Mrs. Fox could prepare a meal. The foxes started digging once again. Where did they end up this time? You will have to read the book to find out how they all survived the three farmers.

The lesson in this book is that when you start something you should finish it. Never give up! In Fantastic Mr. Fox all of the fox family stick together and we think that this is a powerful lesson.

My (Jenna) favorite part is when some children sing a song and I thought it was funny. Now it's hard for me to get the song out of my head.
My (Daniel) favorite part is when Mr. Fox thought up an idea to dig some more, but doesn't think they can do it. The children are willing to try and that takes great courage.

We liked the book because everyone was strong and willing to keep on trying. Even when they had no strength left, Mr. Fox was a hero.

I (Jenna) like the illustrations because they helped my understand what was going on in the story. I (Daniel) think the illustrations were funny because in every picture of the farmers it looks like they're doing something strange and weird even if they're not.

We recommend this book to second through fifth graders and to people who like Roald Dahl books with lots of adventure, and of course, happy endings.